Martha Louise Long Ice

1926 - 2020

After enjoying a long and full life, Martha Ice died peacefully on September 9, 2020, at Hospice of Spokane, in Spokane, WA. When we can safely gather, family will plan a service to celebrate her life.

Martha was born on January 11, 1926 in Dayton, OH, to Harry and Cora (Libbe) Long. The youngest of 4 children, she grew up in Dayton and rural southeastern Michigan, graduating from Dundee High School in 1943. She went on to Capital University in Columbus, OH, where she earned her BA in sociology in 1947. During her college summer of 1945, she worked with Frank Laubach in New York City with his Laubach Literacy program and, on August 14, joined a friend at a window seat at Toffenetti's, in Times Square, to watch the crowd gather to celebrate VJ Day. ??Martha married Oscar Ice in 1948 and they immediately moved to California, where he began his career in Lutheran ministry. This would take the growing Ice family to further postings in North Dakota, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan. Martha and Oscar had six children in rapid succession. Martha was primarily a homemaker over the first 19 years of marriage, but, especially in her years in Mankato, MN, she became active in church and community services, earning a reputation as a desired speaker on a wide range of topics, such as human development, spiritual health, values clarification, and social issues. This led to an invitation to teach sociology on the college level in 1967 at Mankato State College. To continue teaching at that level, she earned her MA in 1974 (U of Chicago) and PhD in 1985 (U of Michigan) at the age of 59.

Martha concluded her teaching career with 8 years at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, retiring in 1993. She authored 2 books on life and ministry perspectives of clergy women and men. In 1994 she moved to Spokane, WA, and lived for many years with son Tim and his family. She moved out on her own in 2015 to give Tim and Priscilla more freedom of movement in their approaching retirements.

During her years in Spokane, Martha became very active in St. Mark's Lutheran Church, volunteered at Hospice of Spokane, served on the board of Lutheran Community Services, mentored refugees, and provided tasty weekday dinners and perfectly folded laundry for her son Tim's family. She was active in several book discussion groups and in groups addressing social justice issues.

Martha tirelessly strove to be of service to others in her life, starting with her family and moving outward to friends, her students, socially marginalized people, and those who differed with her. She was not without faults, but endeavored to be the best servant of God that she could be. She was a woman of wide-ranging interests: all manner of academic subjects, religion and ethics, the arts, amateur artwork, sewing and artistic stitchery, gaining and maintaining friendships, and endlessly reading.

At 94, she was still walking three flights of stairs at least twice a day to remain active. In early August, Martha was excited to move to a bright new apartment at Providence Emilie Court. After a mandatory two-week Covid quarantine in her room, she had her first day out, meeting her new neighbors and exploring the corridors and stairwells for exercise. That night she expressed great satisfaction with her new home. The next morning, while standing at the sink, she crumpled to the floor, and was hospitalized. She lost strength through the week and, with her offspring at her bedside, made the decision to move to comfort care with Hospice of Spokane. She slept peacefully there until her death five days later.

Martha was preceded in death by all of her family of origin, husband Oscar, son Mark (Rosemary), and son-in-law Nathan Mogbo (Kirsten). She is survived by five children: Jonathan (Karla) Ice of Cedar Rapids, IA, Tim (Priscilla) Ice of Spokane, WA, Rachel Yanikoglu and Kirsten Mogbo of Ann Arbor, MI, Susan (Phil) Shute of Peterborough, NH, as well as 11 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to St. Mark's Lutheran Church (stmarks-spokane.org), Lutheran Community Services Northwest (lcsnw.org, "LCSNW-Spokane, Martha Ice memorial), or Hospice of Spokane (hospiceofspokane.org, "Hospice House South").

She will be greatly missed!